2020’s going to be busy, say cyclone researchers

Four weeks before the start of the Atlantic Hurricane Season, one of the world’s foremost research authorities on hurricanes has warned the six-month period will be busier than normal.

The Colorado State University Tropical Weather Project team has forecast four major hurricanes, eight hurricanes from 16 named storms with gusts of 100 km/h or more.

Major hurricanes on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale have winds of more than 180 km/h.

“We anticipate that the 2020 Atlantic Basin hurricane season will have above-normal activity,” said Dr Phil Klotzbach, who heads the team. “This is above the 30-year average of 12 named storms, six hurricanes and three major hurricanes.”

The CSU outlook is based on more than 30 years (1981 – 2010) of statistical factors combined with season data showing similar characteristics of sea level pressure and sea surface temperatures in the oceans Atlantic and eastern Pacific.

The CSU had correctly predicted that last year’s hurricane season would be slightly below the average based on 1981-2020 data.

The storms and hurricanes for the 2020 season, which ends on November 30, are named Arthur, Bertha, Christobal, Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gonzalo, Hanna, Isaias, Josephine, Kyle, Laura, Marco, Nana, Omar, Paulette, René, Sally, Teddy, Vicky and Wilfred.